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Friday, October 5, 2012

Morning mindfulness

The morning view from my bed- tea and book included!

During the most recent summer, I did a two week internship at our local food co-op in the bakery department. Unlike a lot of bakers, they do not have to get up at two in the morning to bake fresh bread and croissants, as they mainly make grab-and-go items like cookies and muffins (and a million other delicious things). Even though I wasn't getting up in the middle of the night to bake, I still had to get up at six and sometimes five in the morning.

Consequently, for the rest of the summer I was unable to sleep past seven, and even now I cannot sleep past eight. Instead of dreading these sleepless mornings, I decided to change my attitude. My mom gets up at five o'clock almost every weekday morning, and she works from home four days a week! She uses her morning time to get herself ready for the day by reading and drinking her coffee in the living room- she doesn't chug it down while flying out the door. I thought, maybe there is something to that!

Now, when I wake up at six in the morning, I get my breakfast and my tea and I get back in bed. I love my bed so much, and using it only for sleeping felt like a waste. Once I'm up, I don't fall back asleep, so I keep myself busy. Most mornings I read, and sometimes I go on the computer, but I always have my tea and my cat to keep me company. This ritual keeps my morning from becoming hectic, and gives me a centered start to my day. I like to imagine that my classmates would be jealous of how alert and awake I am during my first class, if only they were truly awake themselves to notice!

Maybe morning just isn't the time for you, but I'm sure there is some part of your day that you can savor a little bit more. And that little bit makes all the difference.